Left Side Pains

[Lilja]

Hi again,

Since I'll have to wait 4 weeks for my test results (24 hrs urine and a lot of blood tests), I need some help. My GP doesn't know a thing about CC, and the new dr I went to see last week is untrained and somewhat experimental. The latter can be an advantage, but we'll see.

Today I have had some excruciating pains in my lower left side, it's as if some one pinches me and holds it for a few seconds. Then it goes away, it's quiet for some time, only to return.

I have tried to read on the Internet, but it's confusing. It's all about colon cancer and diverticulitis.

I have not had any pains in my stomach since I was diagnosed in 2010, only WD. The WD is gone, and I'm so grateful for that, but now this pain thing comes along.

Is lower left side pains "normal" among people with MC? Is this area what they call the sigmoid colon? Does any one have an idea what I can do, or what this is? I have not been eating anything unusual.

Thankful for any input and/or advice

Lilja

[DJ]

One simple starting point might be to bend and touch your toes several times and twist from side to side to learn if you are having a gas pocket in that area.

[tex]

Hi Lilja,

Yes, that's the location of the sigmoid colon, and this is the area where diverticula are the most likely to form. Consequently this is the area where diverticulitis (inflamed diverticula) is most likely to occur. However, diverticulitis does not feel like a brief pinch and then it fades away. An acute diverticulits episode usually lasts for days or until treated, and it hurts like hell the whole time.

Back when I was reacting and my symptoms were transforming from D to C, I would often have excruciatingly painful cramps in my sigmoid colon (and sometimes in other locations) that would come and go relatively quickly (often lasting less than a minute). As DJ suggested, often/usually they seemed to be due to trapped gas that was finally moving.

Tex

[Lilja]

Hi Lilja,

Back when I was reacting and my symptoms were transforming from D to C, I would often have excruciatingly painful cramps in my sigmoid colon (and sometimes in other locations) that would come and go relatively quickly (often lasting less than a minute). As DJ suggested, often/usually they seemed to be due to trapped gas that was finally moving.

Tex

Exactly, Tex! I have had some visits to the bathroom, and yes... You're right. It's constipation! I had what we call "sheep pearls". Hard to pass, like small stones.

And, what has been different this last week? Yes, I was asked to not take any supplements prior to my doctor's appointment, and to return two days later with 24-hour urine. So, I haven't taken any supplements this week.

Why does the lack of supplements cause C? Because I'm convinced that that's the answer.

The pains are gone


Lilja

[tex]

Any time we can get rid of abdominal pain that easily has to be a good day.

To answer your question about supplements though, it depends on which supplements you were taking. One possibility is that your normal condition leans toward C (similar to me), and magnesium was keeping your BMs more normal. But it could also be something else, or a combination of supplements.

Tex

[Lilja]

Any time we can get rid of abdominal pain that easily has to be a good day.

To answer your question about supplements though, it depends on which supplements you were taking. One possibility is that your normal condition leans toward C (similar to me), and magnesium was keeping your BMs more normal. But it could also be something else, or a combination of supplements.

Tex

The whole 9 yards (an expression my son used after having spent one year in the U.S. as an exchange student, and I like it), which is:

400-600 mg Magnesium (Doctor's Best Chelated 100%)
2.000 mg vitamin C
1.000 mcg B-12
The active forms of B6 and B9
50 mg zink
10.000 i.u. D3

Prior to MC, my normal condition was C.

Thank you, Tex. You are always right on target.

Lilja

[Marcia K]

Hi, Lilja. Whenever I get pain it is on my left side. My colonoscopy was clear except for the LC so I do not have diverticulitis. I can't say that the pain is ever severe. It comes & goes without rhyme or reason. I wanted to start keeping track of when it occurs because I think it might happen after I eat certain things.

[tex]

If the supplements are responsible for the change it would just about have to be the magnesium. Some authorities claim that around 500 mg of magnesium is the practical limit, but as we know, the limit depends on the form (and probably one's personal tolerance limit).

It takes megadoses of vitamin C to cause D, so 2,000 mg shouldn't be a problem (unless you're sensitive to ascorbic acid (or corn, from which most ascorbic acid is made), and I doubt that the B vitamins or zinc would have that effect.

Nor is it likely that it could be the vitamin D — in one study 82 % of IBS patients had a vitamin D deficiency. So vitamin D is more likely to stop D than to cause it. In fact the researchers wrote:

Conclusions

Our study shows that vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in patients with IBS and these results seem to have therapeutic implications. Vitamin D supplementation could play a therapeutic role in the control of IBS.

Vitamin D Deficiency in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Does it Exist?

You're most welcome,
Tex